Restorative Remapping Project

08/31/2024

You can find the whole atlas at mohawkatlas.org. It's this same concept that inspires Restorative Remapping Project.

“It’s a different way of approaching language revitalization in our community,” says Ransom.

“We can use placenames and this project to teach about history, our connection to the land and the surrounding environment.”

Indigenous placenames contain information and clues that help us understand how a place was historically and culturally used, what the land itself used to look like, and track environmental changes in flora, fauna and topography over generations.

11/04/2022

It shouldn’t take years of exhausting work to undo the terrible names on these places, but many states’ systems are designed in such a way to make this restorative work overly laborious. We need federal level solutions, but in the mean time, states must seek ways to fast track this important work. Congratulations Alaska!

**CW/TW: This post mentions su***de.

North and South Yuyanq’Ch’ex, which are an Athabaskan Dena’ina name meaning “breath from above” or “heaven’s breath”, are the official names for two mountain peaks in the Chugach front range southeast of Anchorage.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names unanimously voted for the name change, which was the result of a two-year effort to changes the name from “Su***de Peaks”.

Bill Paragan (Tlingit) understands that even the mention of the name of the tragedy can bring up the pain loved ones have experienced. He has been working to change the name, which involved an online petition with hundreds of signatures, a letter of support from the Alaska Legislature and persistent effort.

He hopes the name change will help to continue important conversations and raise awareness for the problem.

“The proper thing was to get the name from the Dena’ina people,” Paragan explained. Based on conversations with Native elders, it seems the original Dena’ina names for the peaks have been lost.

Yuyanq’Ch’ex (pronounced “you-yonk-chekh) was chosen by elder Helen Dick, who is currently one of the only fluent Dena’ina speakers.

“The idea was to have a Dena’ina name to cancel the spirit of death over Alaska,” Pagaran stated. “Life over death, because words have power.”

…
If you or someone you know is suicidal or in emotional distress, the 988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by dialing or texting 988 or using chat services at su***depreventionlifeline.org to connect to a trained crisis counselor. You can also get crisis text support via the Crisis Text Line by texting NAMI to 741741.
…

10/19/2022

While we are delayed in sharing the wonderful news from last week, we wanted to let all of our amazing supporters know that the Vermont Board of Libraries voted unanimously on another petition to change the name of Negro Brook in the Townshend State Forest to hereby be known as Huzzy Brook, after James and Susanna Huzzy.

We knew the right thing to do was to handoff this important (exhausting) and restorative work to an amazing group of locally based changemakers in Windham County. We couldn’t be more grateful for their tenacious and steadfast stewardship of this work.

The Windham County NAACP stood with us from the very beginning and their leadership was instrumental in this second round as well. We also want to thank Dr. Elise Guyette for all her research to uncover the long-forgotten story of this incredible and inspiring Black Americans, and Rich Holshuh in his official capacity representing the Elnu band of the Abenaki, for standing with us from the early days and for his gentle guidance and deep sense of community care.

We want to express our humblest gratitude to Wichie Artu, Stephanie Amyot, Lynne Shea, Juliette Carr, and Sarah Pugh, for their patient and successful work to reach this momentous shift and to the hundreds of Vermonters who have written in support, offered testimony, and signed the petitions. Vermont will soon say goodbye to its last known race-based place name, joining Hawaii as the second state to do so (we believe).

Lastly, we encourage people around the continent and world to continue the intentional work to deconstruct hundreds of years of geographic colonization through the removal of monuments, restoring place names of geographic features to those names held by the original inhabitants who have never ceded this land, and working intentionally to name and rename places and features after the people whose stories and accomplishments often went untold or were suppressed. We encourage all Vermonters to research and uplift BIPOC history in your community, especially as groups around the state and country attempt to remove stories from educational settings and materials.

With Solidarity and Admiration,
The Rename Negro Brook Alliance (now known as the Restorative Remapping Project)

The Vermont State Board of Libraries last week unanimously approved renaming Negro Brook in Windham County to Huzzy Brook. The brook, which runs through the Townshend State Forest before emptying into the West River, will now be named after James and Susanna Huzzy.

11/20/2021

Secretary Deb Haaland has demonstrated amazing and insightful leadership over and over. States need to adopt this standard and eliminate all Race Based Place Names. Grassroots activists struggle against racist administrative hierarchies around the country often with failed results. We support a Federal solution to the elimination of offensively named places.

"Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said as she formally declared "squaw" to be a derogatory term.

09/28/2021

Another win in the global effort to decolonize and deconstruct the myth of Anglo-European domination over the land.

Fraser Island was renamed to the original Butchulla name, K'gari. Returning to original place names is a significant step in First Nations people maintaining cultural identity in Australia.

09/14/2021

We continue to invite people and public officials to consider the concept of place names. Who got to name them? When and why? They are reflections of social structures of a painful past that only served to remind oppressed peoples of their "place" in the landscape of white supremacy.

Where is the nearest offensively-named place to your home? Have you considered it? Here in Vermont, Squaw Mountain is on the Adirondack horizon in neighboring New York just west of Middlebury.

Be part of the change.

07/14/2021

It’s nice to see scientists addressing aspects of white supremacy culture in their field, but many species are named after “explorers” who used indigenous guides and knowledge to “discover” species and name them after themselves—contributing to the erasure of indigenous knowledge and language of species names. True decolonization of the scientific landscape compels us to go further.

The gypsy moth is getting a new name after concerns it is considered an ethnic slur.

07/06/2021

From a news channel in Australia. Yesterday they used traditional aboriginal place names in lieu of the the colonized names. What would your weather outlook look like in your community? Do you know?

06/17/2021

Join the hearing from 10-12 today to RENAME NEGRO BROOK. Listening, bearing witness, chatting, or being heard are all valued roles. We continue to be both grateful for and in admiration of our supporters.

Members Bruce Post, Essex Junction - Chair Deborah Granquist, Weston - Vice Chair Jason Broughton, State Librarian - Secretary Maxie Ewins, Shelburne Tom Frank, Milton Adriene Katz, Williston Linda Saarinjoki, Weston James Saunders, Plainfield Subcommittees Geographic Naming Committee: Broughton, Po...

06/16/2021

For folks continuing to follow the saga of Negro Brook in Vermont. Thank you to all the brave people who shared their reflections with the Reformer. We did not initiate this piece but are glad to see the Brattleboro Reformer covering this nuanced and important conversation about race and Black history in rural spaces of Vermont, as well as one single way in which white supremacist culture impacts our lives, systems, and environments.

TOWNSHEND — A new name is being proposed for Negro Brook, which flows down Bald Mountain in Townshend State Park.

06/10/2021

As we prepare for our 2nd hearing on June 17th to rename Negro Brook here in southern Vermont, we are glad conversations about other spaces in the world of science and geography are pursuing similar renaming work to deconstruct the indelible stamp of white supremacy wherever we can. We invite all our supporters to consider where in your own communities to look for renaming work.

As the US continues to reassess its relationship to racism, offensive sports team and school names have changed. Bird names are next, as initiatives like Bird Names for Birds push for change and as the American Ornithological Society makes plans for new guidelines.

05/12/2021

We are happy to report that, primarily thanks to powerful women and femmes who showed up in the naming of addressing racial harm, the Townshend, Vermont selectboard voted 3-2 to support renaming Negro Brook to Susanna Toby Brook. It was a powerful discussion and we continue to be humbled to steward the story of Susanna nee Toby Huzzy and her husband James as we advance our petition forward for a second hearing in the capital in June.

We continue to have immense gratitude to Dr. Elise Guyette, author of Discovering Black Vermont, and the many people who and organizations who continue to support this effort.

We also are immensely grateful for the support and counsel of the Elnu band of the Abenaki nation and their cultural liaison, Rich Holschuh, whose thoughtful wisdom has led us down a path of dialogue and engagement.

Please e-mail us at [email protected] to be added to our e-mail list for future updates. We look forward to a June hearing [date TBD] with the State.